Without You
by Xx.Squirt.xX
Summary: When Ally is kidnapped and murdered, Austin must accept the painful reality; Ally is gone. But when he is visited by a familiar brunette, Austin rethinks everything he thought he knew about "normal".
1. Prologue

**AN: This is my first fanfic so please review and let me know if you think I should give this story a chance. If you like this chapter please follow/favorite the story, or follow/favorite me to see future fanfics. I plan on making this story continue for many chapters, so please follow to get updates! **

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_Prologue_

The light was dim, and all I could clearly see was a dark, ominous shadow lurking in the corner. Pain seared across my body and my limbs quickly went numb. Blood rushed to my head and the air around me filled with smoke. The smoke burned my eyes, nose and mouth. My lungs were screaming at me to get out, to get air, but I couldn't. I couldn't move. My wrists were knotted together with a rope that was tied so tight that my hands were turning blue. My fingers were tingling from the lack of circulation and I desperately tried to slide the rope off my wrists. But I was too weak to even try. My vision became splotchy and my mind started clouding with thoughts.

Thoughts of happiness, joy, love and friendship began swirling around in my mind. I thought of my music, my family and mostly, my friends. I closed my eyes. And when I closed my eyes I saw Austin. We were sitting at the piano, writing a new song. He was playing a beautiful harmony and singing along to the melody I was playing. We smiled, enjoying the moment of bliss and nothing else mattered but us and our music. Our hands brushed and I felt a warm feeling spread through my fingertips.

And just like that, the moment was gone. Reality settled back in and I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the red. Eternal, burning red. Then I felt the pain. I felt myself slipping from consciousness and I squinted against the flames. I saw a door on the other side of the room. My escape was so close, but yet so far. Then I saw it. Austin kicked the door open, with Trish and Dez behind him. He looked up at me and we made eye contact. He looked horrified. The shadow shot across the room, echoing the same phrase over and over again, "When evil takes it's toll in part, true love is the power that can mend the heart".

I pondered that for a second, but the rope snapped and my head crashed into the hard, marble ground. A bright white light engulfed me, reaching into the deep depths of my soul and pulling me away from Earth.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Thank you all so much for all of the reviews, follows and even favorite after just one chapter. Please keep letting me know what you think of the story in the reviews. I appreciate all suggestions and constructive criticism. There's some Auslly starting to come out in this chapter. Enjoy!**

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**_Chapter 1_**

**Ally Pov**

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

I turned off my alarm clock and smiled at my ceiling. Today is the last day of school before summer vacation, so I'm really excited. I jumped out of bed, opened my curtains and let sunshine beam into my room, making my purple bedroom seem to radiate happiness.

I opened my closet, searching for the perfect outfit to finish my junior year. I decided to put on my favorite black top, which had ruffles on the front and lace on upper half of the back. With my tank top, I put on denim shorts that had small decorative rips. Checking the time, I realized my ride was going to get here in 20 minutes. Rushing, I threw on a pair of flip-flops and accessorized with a pair of small silver hoops. I picked up my bag and put it on my shoulder, making my way downstairs. Passing a mirror, I saw that my hair was a mess, so I pulled some of my long, wavy hair back and clipped it in place on the back of my head. Perfect.

The scent of fresh bacon flooded my senses and drew me into the kitchen, where I found a plate of eggs and bacon with a note next to it.

_Ally,_

_Hope you have a great last day of school! Enjoy your breakfast! Unfortunately, I had to go to Africa early this morning on an emergency call. Your father will be at Sonic Boom by the time you wake up._

_See you in a year!_

_Mom_

Great, Mom's in Africa again. She just got back from a 6-month trip three days ago and now she left again. I don't spend much time with her and I feel like I don't even know my own mom sometimes.

I did not want to let my mother's note to ruin my good mood, so I ate my breakfast and waited by the front door. _My ride should be here any minute. _ I thought to myself. Soon enough, I heard a car pull into the driveway. That only meant one thing; Austin's here.

**Austin Pov**

I pulled into Ally's driveway and waited for her to come out. Her front door opened and she walked onto her front porch. I watched her shut her front door and start walking towards me, but it was as if a fan was blowing her hair back in a slow-motion scene of a movie. But in the moment, nothing was slow. Everything was at its normal speed. The only difference was, Ally looked like the center of a radiant beam of light in full beauty.

She opened the car door on the passenger side, grinning ear-to-ear. She was clearly in a good mood. I decided to start the conversation. "Hey Als," I said as I put the car in reverse and backed out of her driveway. She looked over at me. "Hi, are you excited for junior year to be over?" She tilted her head back and watched the sky, since I had the top of my red BMW convertible down. The wind blew her hair in perfect arrangements of art. It was if, for a moment, nature had become a part of her.

"Of course I'm excited," I answered. "But I'm just lucky I made it." She laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. We spent the rest of the car ride talking about our plans for over summer vacation. Our friend Trish had booked Ally, our other friend Dez, and I a two week vacation at a five star hotel in Hawaii.

We pulled into the school parking lot and walked inside together. We laughed and joked all the way about how we were going to prank Trish and Dez while we were on vacation. We separated to go to our lockers. In our school, lockers are given out alphabetically by last name, which meant my locker was far away from Ally's locker. I opened up my locker, shoving my backpack in. Dez met me at the door to homeroom, where he leaned against the wall, with his arms crossed. "Hey Dez," I called, walking up to him. We did our _what up _handshake. The rest of the day passed in a blur, including lunch, which is strange for me. Usually I remember eating food.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting in period 11 English, watching the clock tick down the seconds, like everyone else in the class. The bell rang and we all seemed to pour out of every room in the entire school. I fought my way to my locker, where I grabbed my bag and went outside to meet Ally at my car. I'm her ride to and from school everyday, since her mom is almost always away in Africa and her dad is almost always at Sonic Boom, drinking his problems away. They haven't even bothered to buy her a car, even though she passed her driver's test with flying colors. I asked her if I could buy her a car, but she said that it was too big of a gift to accept.

I took her home and told her that Trish, Dez and I were going to Trish's house at 9 and asked her to come. She said she would, but she might be a little late. That was fine with me, as long as she came. We can't celebrate being seniors if she doesn't come.

At 9:30, Dez, Trish and I were all at Trish's house, waiting for Ally to show. We called her at least twice, from each of our cell phones and Trish's home phone. By 10, we decided to go looking for her. We had travelled about a block from Trish's house when we saw an iPhone lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up and turned it over. It was definitely Ally's phone. "That's her phone," Dez said, stating the obvious. We all exchanged worried looks and then Trish spoke. "I hope she's ok," she whispered to herself. I looked at the phone, the street, the bushes… Then I saw it. Some of the leaves on the bush were stained with blood. "I think I know what happened," I declared. They looked at me. "I think Ally was kidnapped."


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I am so sorry that I took so long to update. I honestly gave up on this story for a while, but something inspired me to keep writing. I've been busy writing for the past week, and I've got a few more chapters for you all. I hope to update at least once a week, maybe even more often than that. I want to make it up to you guys, since I took so long. Enjoy the chapter! I hope you all like it!**

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_Chapter 2_

_Ally Pov_

I closed my front door behind me and started the short walk to Trish's house. The air was unusually cold for Miami this time of year, but I didn't mind. Cold never really bothered me. I could barely see where I was going, since there were no stars in the sky. I pulled out my iPhone to turn on the flashlight option. I turned the corner, about a block away from Trish's house at this point, and pulled my phone out of my pocket. As I pressed the home button and my screen lit up, I saw the time; 9:45. Crap, I'm late. Suddenly, I heard tires screech behind me and a black van skidded to a stop beside me. A man dressed in all black with a mask over his face grabbed me and lifted me onto his shoulder. I screamed, dropping my phone and fighting to make the man let go. I kicked him in the stomach and he dropped me into a bush, where branches scraped my arms and legs. I tried to force my way out of the bush, but I was stuck, and when I turned to my side, a sharp branch cut cleanly across my wrist. Blood came rushing out and I panicked. But it wasn't long until the man picked me up again and threw me into the back of the van, where I crashed into a wall of brown boxes. The boxes tipped over and crashed on top of me, knocking air out of my lungs. The back door to the van slammed shut and I heard someone open the door on the driver's side.

The van started speeding down the street, and the sudden force pushed the boxes off of me, allowing me to sit up. The back of the van was almost pitch-black, and I could faintly make out the contents of the small area around me. There were at least 20 brown boxes, which took up most of the space. The boxes must have been packed full to have enough weight to hold me down. The double doors in the back of the van let in a little light around the edges of the door. I crawled towards it and used the wall as support to stand up. The van was moving so fast it shook my balance, so I grabbed onto the door handle to the back of the van. The handle turned and the door swung open, pulling me with it.

I screamed, grabbing onto the handle with both hands and holding on as tight as I could. It took all the energy I had left to keep my grip on the tiny piece of metal. The van swerved around a turn, sending the door back towards the van, and I jumped inside the vehicle, slamming the door behind me.

I gasped for air, breathing heavily, when I looked up and saw a man dressed in all black sitting in the corner. He put down his hood and I saw that he had brown hair. He smirked at me.

"Hello Ally," he started. I froze and backed up, tripping on a box and falling. He walked over to me and picked up a rope from the floor. "This won't hurt a bit."

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Next thing I knew, my kidnappers had bound my wrists together in front of me with rope, which was extremely painful. Imagine having itchy, rough rope burning into your wrists. That's what it felt like. I thought of ways to let my friends know where to find me, because I'm pretty sure my phone is lying on the road somewhere. Then, I got a brilliant idea.

I started jerking around and rammed my back into the walls of the van. "Keep it down, pipsqueak." The kidnapper was still sitting in the back, probably to make sure I didn't get away. He reached over and slapped my cheek. I let the fake tears fall and pointed at my gag. "Nice try, shortie." He said. I kept up the act until the kidnapper made the driver stop and took off the gag to see what I wanted. I spotted bags of money hidden in the corner next to me.

"Please!" I cried out. "I need to use the bathroom, unless of course, you want me to turn your money into a toilet." I smirked, waiting for a response. The kidnapper pulled the driver into the back and they talked for a little while. Then, without warning, the driver grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the van, towards the mall. He pushed me into the women's bathroom two doors down from Sonic Boom, but not before I could see my dad sitting inside his shop, snoring and drooling on the counter with a beer bottle in his hands.

Of course my dad would drink his way through his daughter's kidnapping. I should be used to his negligence by now.

Now inside the bathroom, I pulled my red lipstick out of my back pocket, realizing I was untied. They must have untied me when they pulled me out of the van. Formulating a plan, I got another brilliant idea.

Trish unlocks this bathroom every morning. It's part of her new job. Her job is to unlock it, take a look around, and report messes to the janitor. If I leave her a message in here, she is sure to find it soon, considering it must be around 3 or 4 AM by now. As long as she wakes up and decides to keep this job an extra day, I'm in luck.

Biting my lip, I smeared lipstick across the mirror, writing my message. When I was done, I stepped back to look at my work. My message was clear.

_Trish,_

_I was kidnapped. Call the cops. Tell them two brown-haired men wearing all black are driving me around in a black van. I think we're heading south. Please save me!_

_4213_

_Love,_

_Ally_

Perfect. The set of four numbers is a message only Trish will understand. She'll know I want her to call Austin. It's an inside joke between the two of us because _4213 _is the last four digits of Austin's phone number, and we started referring to him by those numbers so we could talk about him when he's around, without him ever suspecting anything.

Then I got another idea. I slid my lipstick into my back pocket and grabbed three rolls of toilet paper, unrolling them and stuffing their contents into my bra. It was the only place I could think of to get it out of here unnoticed. I wanted to make sure people knew I was here if the scene is checked for DNA, since I asked Trish to bring the cops into this. I ran my hands over almost everything in the bathroom and found a sewing needle on the ground. I cleaned it off and pricked my finger, which left my blood over everything I touched. I left it on the faucets, stall doors, floor, and the tampon dispenser. Tampon dispenser. Trish keeps extra lipstick in here! I ripped it open, and sure enough, five red lipsticks stared back at me. I took them all. Looking around, it was pretty obvious I was here. I put my chin up, and walked out of the bathroom.

The driver grabbed my arm again once I walked out of the bathroom, and took me back to the van, where I was retied and gagged again. They both went to sit up front and we pulled away from the mall.

_Idiots_, I thought to myself. They left me back here unsupervised. Smiling, I crawled over to the doors and peeked out. We're definitely going south. I hope Trish gets my message.

Soon.

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_Trish Pov_

Ugh, it's so early. Why did I accept a job that requires me getting up at 6 AM? I changed into sweats and a t-shirt. Even though it's hot, I always show up to this job in sweatpants. I walked to the mall, and made my way to the bathroom I'm supposed to open, the one by Sonic Boom. Seeing the familiar sign made me think of Ally. I can only hope she's okay. _I wish I knew where to find her._ I thought to myself.

I turned the key in the lock, and realized it was already unlocked. Confused, I stepped inside and turned on the light. What I saw left me speechless, but not in a good way, in a scary way.

Blood was stained on the stall doors, faucets, walls, and everywhere else. Toilet paper was everywhere, the tampon dispenser was open, and my red lipsticks were missing. My first thought was a break-in, but then I saw the message on the mirror.

_Trish,_

_I was kidnapped. Call the cops. Tell them two brown-haired men wearing all black are driving me around in a black van. I think we're heading south. Please save me!_

_4213_

_Love,_

_Ally_

Oh my gosh. Ally did all of this. She must've escaped to the bathroom to get a message to me. I looked at the four-digit number again. _4213…_ Why does that seem familiar? Oh, of course! That's the code Ally and I use to talk about Austin when he's around. It's the last four digits of his cell phone number. Then I realized; Ally wants me to call Austin. I clumsily fumbled around in my pocket until I got hold on my phone. I called Austin and held the phone to my ear, waiting for him to pick up.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered the phone.

"Austin, get down to the girl's bathroom by Sonic Boom now! It's about Ally!"

I heard him fall onto the floor. "I'm on my way." He hung up, clearly in a rush. Looking back to the mirror, I saw Ally's other request; to call the cops. I dialed 911 and waited, explaining once they picked up. I was told a team of officers was on their way. Austin arrived first. "Ally was here?" He panted. Did he run all the way here? "Yeah," I said, staring at her message.

The cops arrived soon after. They tested the blood and the DNA matched Ally's. I saw a bloody needle lying on the floor, so I picked it up and showed an officer. She looked at me and said, "Your friend is very smart. She knew to leave evidence of her presence here. I'm sure she will be fine while we search for her." _I sure hope so._

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_Austin Pov_

I choked on my breath a little, not being able to comprehend much. The officers were asking question after question, but all I could think about was my best friend, out there somewhere, held against her will. I read her message for the millionth time in 5 minutes. _4213…_ I can't make sense of what those numbers mean. Then I realized; that's the last four digits to my cell phone number. It warmed me a little, knowing Ally wanted me here, wanted Trish to call me. It means she needs me, and I want to help her. Then I thought about how she might have gotten in here. She got away somehow, created all this evidence, and got out again.

It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

I walked out of the bathroom and saw a piece of toilet paper with red lipstick smudges on it lying on the ground outside the door. Trish came out to find me, and followed my gaze to the toilet paper. "She left us a trail to follow her," She whispered, taking a deep breath. Dez walked up to us, camera in hand. "Hey guys, where's Ally?" I sighed. "She was kidnapped, remember?" He looked confused for a moment and then he seemed to remember. "Oh yeah." I rolled my eyes. He forgets things so quickly.

I stared at the toilet paper once more, and started walking. Trish and Dez followed me. Ally's my best friend, and I want to save her from the lowlifes that stole her in the first place. Sure enough, another piece of toilet paper with red lipstick was lying on the sidewalk, next to the road, outside of the mall. I turned around to face Trish and Dez. They looked back at me expectantly. I took a deep breath and broke the awkward silence.

"Let's go find Ally."

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**AN: So that's it for now, but I have plenty more to update. Please review and let me know what you think. I appreciate constructive criticism on my writing, it'll help me make my stories better for you all. I'll update again ASAP, definitely before next week. Follow/Favorite me or my story if you want to read more of my work. I'm starting another fanfic that I'll post soon. **


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